DP Buzz: Citizen input on Facebook "likes"

May 24, 2013

Editors' Note: "DP Buzz" is an interactive feature of the Daily Press Opinion Page. We email weekly questions on issues and topics affecting Peninsula-area citizens. Each week, subscribers can choose whether to weigh in or not with a short answer. Here is a sampling; all responses are posted at dailypress.com/opinion. To receive DP Buzz questions, send an email to rtroyer@dailypress.com with the subject "DP Buzz."

This week's DP Buzz question: Should public employers be able to terminate employees for "liking" political pages and posts on Facebook? Why or why not?

No! Public employees have the same rights as everyone else; being paid by the taxpayers should not limit those rights.bMore importantly, the first amendment does not exempt these employees. I can express my opinion; good or bad,they should be allowed the same privilege.

Ashton Haywood

Hampton

Mixed on this. 1) Terminate if they openly express political preferences that can lead to perceptions of unequal treatment. They should constrain political opinion to the voting booth. 2) Public employees shouldn't fear losing their job for exercising their 1st amendment rights when not conducting the public's business.

Joe Blumber

Newport News

Nope. Public employees are also citizens with free-speech rights in their private lives, and Facebook is at least a semi-private forum, intended for the "friends" of the user. What an employer learns from Facebook about an employee's political views is comparable to overhearing a private conversation.

Scott Butler

Newport News

Yes, if the public employee is specifically covered by the Hatch Act. Not all are. Political participation by "Hatched" employees is prohibited by statute. No for "non-Hatched" employees. They have unabridged rights, even for politics.

Joe Mann

James City County

Absolutely not! Why was the employer looking at the employee's email in the first place? Sounds like the employer has too much time on his hands. Evidently he should use it to improve his employee's morale.

Marie Whytsell

Hampton

Absolutely not. We don't live in a society run by dictators demanding you follow their political beliefs "or else"!! We live in The United States. The one country people from all over the world want to immigrate to because we have political freedom, we have the right to dissent, we have the right to "click" the "like" button of whatever political belief we choose.

Alan Duhon

Newport News

If there is a policy regarding "liking" political pages /posts saying violators will be terminated, then public employers have the right to terminate. However, if no policy exists, then a warning of termination is in order and a strict policy should be put in place. If the policy continues to be ignored, the employer should dismiss the offending party.

Jo-Ann Mahony

Hampton

I believe that if you patronize Facebook, sooner or later something that you have put on there will come back and bite you in the behind.